Musk targets ad tech companies with Twitter claim over acquisition deal

Elon Musk, Twitter logos, and US dollar banknotes are pictured in this illustration, August 10, 2022. REUTERS / Dado Ruvic / Illustration

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Aug 18 (Reuters) – Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk is trying to walk away from his deal to acquire Twitter. (TWTR.N)is seeking documents from advertising technology companies as part of its quest for more information about bot accounts and Twitter spam, according to court filings in Delaware Thursday.

Twitter has sued the Tesla CEO, who accused Twitter of withholding information about how the percentage of bots on the service is calculated, for trying to walk away from a $44 billion agreement. A trial is scheduled for October 17. read more

Musk’s lawyers summoned Integral Ad Science (IAS) (IAS.O) and DoubleVerify (DV.N) for any documents or communications regarding their participation in an audit or participation in any audit of the Twitter user base.

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IAS and DoubleVerify, both based in New York, use technology to independently verify that digital ads are viewed by real people. Advertisers use the Services to ensure that potential customers see the ads they are paying for and not automated bots.

Twitter, IAS and DoubleVerify did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

In response to a tweet by a user who questioned how Twitter audited its service and also linked to a Reuters story about Musk targeting ad companies, Musk tweeted: “These are the questions Twitter is doing everything they can to avoid answering…”

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In a counterclaim earlier this month, Musk claimed that Twitter’s monetized daily active users are 65 million fewer than the company touted. Twitter said it is committed to its disclosures.

The metric measures users who log into Twitter through a website or apps that can display ads or use paid products like subscriptions, according to Twitter filings.

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(Sheila Dang reports in Dallas); Editing by Leslie Adler and Deepa Babington

Our criteria: Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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